Valley students win top Scholar awards
Spokane Valley high school students dominated the Spokane Scholars Foundation awards presented April 20 at the Spokane Convention Center.
Students from Valley schools won all six $4,000 first-place scholarship awards and five students from Greater Spokane Valley schools earned scholarship awards by placing among the top four.
The foundation honored 138 high school seniors with the foundation’s Medal of Academic Achievement at the 19th annual banquet. Consideration for the cash awards include: grade point average and course of study in the content area of nomination, national aptitude and achievement test scores, original research or related activities, and letters of recommendation. A panel of three judges reviews the applications in each content area.
English
Caitlin Hess of University High School won the $4,000 top prize in English. This school year alone, Hess earned perfect scores on the Advanced Placement English language and AP English literature exams, earned a perfect score – 2400 – on the SAT, is an AP Scholar with Distinction, a National Merit finalist, a Washington Scholar nominee and a U.S. Presidential Scholar nominee.
She hopes to attend the University of Chicago to major in English and pursue a career in journalism.
Hannah Damiano from Central Valley received a $2,000 award.
Fine arts
Jennifer Smasne of East Valley High School won the $4,000 fine arts prize. She holds a 4.0 grade point average, has won a scholarship to attend the New York City Dance Alliance’s National Competition to compete for National Outstanding Dancer. Smasne hopes to be a professional ballet dancer.
Mathematics
Trevin Hiebert of University is an AP Scholar with Distinction, a National Merit Commended Scholar, holds a 3.9 grade point average and earned a perfect 800 on the SAT II Math exam. He also earned a perfect 36 on the ACT math section and two perfect scores on the AP AB Calculus and AP BC Calculus exams.
Hiebert plans to study engineering at the University of Pennsylvania or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The $3,000 winner was Ashleigh Seely from Central Valley; Benjamin Mega from Freeman received $1,000 award.
Science
Ryan Linehan of University High School won the $4,000 science scholarship. He holds a 4.0 grade point average and earned a perfect score on seven AP tests. He is an AP Scholar with Distinction, is captain of the school Knowledge Bowl team and is a finalist for the Washington State NASA grant.
Social studies
Penny Zhang of Central Valley High School won the $4,000 top prize in social studies.
She holds a 3.96 grade point average and earned a 2360 on the SAT. She earned perfect scores on the AP exams in both United States and European history. She is also a National Merit finalist.
Zhang plans to attend the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Jacob Culberson of the Oaks Classical Christian Academy received a $1,000 award.
World languages
Marion Madsen of Central Valley won the $4,000 prize in world languages. She is studying both German and Chinese, holds a 3.96 grade point average and scored in the 94th percentile of the National German Exam. She studies Chinese at Gonzaga University and teaches introductory German to elementary school students.
Madsen believes multilingualism will strengthen peaceful relations between countries and cultures globally.
The $3,000 prize went to Porscha Smith of University .